Sunday, December 09, 2007

If it isn't the roof, it is the other direction.

Well, the problem with water outside the sink and tub this time is not from the roof leaking. Today, we have the opposite problem, a clogged (and full) sewer line.

Richard was cleaning the bathrooms and ran out to find me when he saw a potential problem, the toilet started to bubble. He could not figure out why cleaning the sink made the bubbles pop up in the toilet when they were on other sides of the room and came running to get me (and I am very grateful he did it). I knew what the problem was.

The secondary sewage line cleanout in the basement.  This is one of three lines that go from the house, to the street.  Why there are three, I do not know, but I am very glad that the house is compartmentalized into three sections.I went down to the basement and checked. I thumped the pipes. They were full. All I could do it get everyone to help me move the boxes and such from that side of the house.

Richard and I ran the garden hose from outside to the basement and started opening the cleanout fitting. It was rather nasty emptying the contents of the lines onto the floor, but there was no choice. After dumping about 60 gallons on the deck and into the sump, we cleaned up everything by hosing it down.

There are three fans down there now, circulating the air to try and dry out the moisture caused by hosing down the concrete. This is not an unusual configuration for a sump pump.  It is rather pathetic in the design area.  The water runs continiously uphill to the exit fitting.  I need to repipe it to head up the wall on the left, then across and then down to the exit fitting.  That way, I believe it will not freeze when it gets real cold outside like it did last year.  The cold ran down the pipe and conducted the temp change to freeze the water.  The wall could also be consided a heat sink in the fact that it didn't get cold.The smell in minimal (by what Richard says) and should not be a problem. Not much was contaminated and only a couple of boxes should be needing a replacement.

Tomorrow, I will have to get a snake to clean out the line. I know the blockage is somewhere between the house and street. There is a cleanout just past the sidewalk and when I opened it up, was clear but the flow was a tiny trickle. Aside from a little contamination, I think we have done pretty well so far. Tomorrow's plumbing task will be the real mess with a big snake and all that implies.

I will also have to replumb the sump exhaust to a more manageable route. Currently, it all runs up hill to the exit pipe. That freezes up and we can not pump anything after that. If nothing else, this will give us an emergency pump in case this happens again this winter.


No comments: